Business Awards:

Mothers & More of Charleston believes that mothers have the right to fulfill their caregiving responsibilities without incurring social or economic penalties. Our Business Awards program recognizes our nation's top corporate program addressing such issues. In implementing the Awards, Mothers & More hopes to highlight creative ways of structuring work so that mothers can care for their families and achieve in the workplace. We believe that these policies not only help employees balance their work and home obligations, and also help businesses be more competitive. By addressing the child-care and scheduling needs of workers who are working parents, employers can reduce absenteeism, stress, and staff turnover, while increasing productivity, morale and job satisfaction among workers. These employment policies will also help businesses recruit the best candidates available.

Our 2002-2003 winner in the Employer category, The Dow Chemical Company's Women's Innovation Network, went on to win the National Business Award of Mothers & More. This group of Dow employees works together to maximize the contributions of Dow women to the company's success -- the Dow Women's Innovation Network. They work to help women define and realize their own personal visions of success. WIN's stated mission to champion cultural change to maximize individual professional contributions of all Dow women speaks directly to the heart of Mothers & More. WIN serves as a catalyst for transforming Dow's culture to a more inclusive and open environment. By providing education and awareness, it offers opportunities for professional and personal growth. Click here to view the full nomination.

Our 2002-2003 winner in the Facilities category was Ellen's Homemade Ice Cream. Ellen¹s Homemade Ice Cream has been a consistent supporter of families since opening its doors five years ago in downtown Charleston. The outstanding feature of Ellen¹s is that the owner has designated a corner of the restaurant as a child play area. Photos of area children adorn her walls, communicating clearly that children are welcome and valued! Ellen¹s has been the frequent meeting place of Mothers & More playgroups, Mothers & More committee meetings and even a Mothers & More board meeting. This restaurant also plays an important part in our community in providing a street facing plate glass window to display flyers, posters and advertisements. Ellen serves up many flavors of ice cream, fruit smoothies and herb teas, but judgment is never on her menu. Visit Ellen's soon.

Kanawha County Public Library:

Advocating for a new Kanawha County Public Library building was voted as a priority for our Chapter for 2003. One excellent way to make our voice heard is through submitting letters to the editor of local newspapers on the topic.

Below are a few points that you might want to incorporate in the letters.

At least one letter should focus on a family's use of the library --- how this family uses it, what they value about it, but then what a new facility could do for this family and its future generations. Really, anything you can say to explain how you use the library and what you value about it; and how you think a new, modern library will impact our community/county or even you and your family will be very helpful.

A few points we are continuing to try to make:

• libraries are not becoming obsolete; Internet won't replace the need for a public library
• convenient parking IS important to our patrons
• while we have done a good job at maintaining services and collection of the Main Library; there's so much more that we can do with a modern, state-of-the-art facility: study areas, better organized collection, better access to collection and building, additional and more varied programming for all ages, parking, etc.
• Why should the people of Kanawha County settle? We should expect and want more for our communities and families.

For more info see: Charleston Gazette article (Jan 15, 2003) on new library site selection: http://www.wvgazette.com/news/Today/2003011429/